How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy by Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi

Happy Tuesday, all! I hope you're faring better than I. I am ill. I'll survive!

Today I am absolutely thrilled to be part of the Random Things blog tour for How to Kill a Witch by Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi.

Holy freaking hell! This was a book I was incredibly intrigued by and it came through in spades and beyond!

So, and some of this is new to me because I came to the book FIRST: on International Women's Day 2020, Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi started a podcast called Witches of Scotland. The point of the podcast was not only to highlight the women accused of and persecuted for the crime of witchcraft in Scotland but also three additional major goals:

A pardon for those accused of witchcraft in Scotland

An apology for those accused of witchcraft in Scotland

And a national monument 

And the podcast is still going today. 

But now they've come together to write a book that's a narrative history of the 16th—18th century Witches' Act in Scotland. They look at what drove the act as well as those accused, and parallel this history with today's events. 

Now, (in case you're unfamiliar but also a little context on the book) I say narrative history because a. it reads like a narrative rather than an academic text (yay for accessibility) but also because the authors have taken some creative license with those featured. For people like Elspeth Reoch, Janet Wishart, even King James's Lawyer, there are pieces imagining their own insights. As the authors state, there is a lack of documentation in many of these cases so this gives them a chance to breathe life into some of the accused, giving them voice and a chance to "share" their experiences.

And it really is a fascinating history. I'd not actually realized how different it is from the American history of our own witch trials, which are heavily covered and documented. Scotland's own piece of this history is MASSIVE by comparison in terms of the number of victims. And it's disturbing too. 

But the book does have a hint of humor to it. (It has to, how else are we to cope?!) Chapters include: "How to Believe in Magic," "How to Start a Witch-Hunt," "How to Accuse a Witch," and "How to Accuse a Modern-Day Witch," amongst others. 

I'm sure most of us women do know very well how the witch hunts came about. Cross the wrong man or the wrong person in power and that's it. It's something that, if I ponder on it too long, makes me so angry because it still happens today.

This is a book that speaks to me so much at the moment. The authors have an interesting observation in the beginning of the book about their own theories as to why so many women are fascinated by true crime, which aligns exactly with my own theories in that regard (forewarned is forearmed and all). And I've long recognized that I would definitely have been accused of witchcraft had I been around at the time. (Not kidding, a friend of mine commented on my "if looks could kill" face in high school—I absolutely would've rubbed someone the wrong way and found my way to a pyre.)

And honestly, the entire premise of the podcast and the book is so necessary and so timely! I am at a period in my life (perimenopause) where I have so many thoughts and so much anger about the treatment of women on so many different fronts. 

And clearly the authors share a lot of those sentiments. Literally. They share them throughout the book and in footnotes! 

This is an excellent addition to women's history in general and a truly fabulous read for anyone who has ever had an interest in the witch trials—any witch trials. 

How to Kill a Witch: A Guide for the Patriarchy is out now in the UK and due out this fall on the States.

(Be sure to visit their website, learn more, join the clan! I WANT one of those tartans!)